A thrilling 3000m victory by Olympic champion Selemon Barega over a formidable Spanish duo and his Ethiopian teammates proved the most captivating contest at the Villa de Madrid, the final World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2022, on Wednesday.
The noise inside the Centro Deportivo Municipal Gallur reached a crescendo midway through the penultimate lap of the 15-lap event as Spain’s Mohamed Katir twice tried to overtake Barega, but in the end, just as it was over 10,000m in Tokyo, Selemon Barega was too strong for everyone.
After two recent losses over 3000m, the big-kicking 22-year-old re-asserted his supremacy with a catch-me-if-you-can performance filled with courage and class.
With Katir and his Spanish compatriot Adel Mechaal – who recently set a European record of 7:30.82 – in the field, there were high hopes of a home victory. Katir seemed intent on delivering it, taking up pole position behind the pacers as they passed 1000m in 2:31.67, with Barega then seizing command shortly after they had stepped aside, passing 2000m out front in 5:05.32.
From there he relinquished the lead, and after fending off Katir he repelled the late charge of his compatriot Lamecha Girma, hitting the line in a meeting record of 7:34.03. Girma’s runner-up finish in 7:34.09 secured him the overall tour victory and a wild card entry for this month’s World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade. Mechaal edged Katir for third, 7:35.26 to 7:35.73.
“After two times being second without any elite speed training, this week I was targeting a push from 150 metres out,” said Barega. “The altitude (657m) is difficult here so I decided maybe it was not the time to run fast. After the Olympics it was just easy training, but I put in a hard month of training and the target now is to become world champion.”
Barega said he hopes to double in Belgrade over 1500m and 3000m if allowed by his federation.